Conn's Inc. (CONN) Recovers Slightly From Thursday's Crash

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Conn's Inc. (CONN) shares have reversed direction on Friday after being wiped out on Thursday following weak guidance.

By midmorning, the stock had climbed 6.1% to $33.83, a slight recovery from Thursday's 42.9% drop.

The retail holding company disappointed investors by issuing preliminary fourth-quarter results below previous guidance after bad debts and delinquencies rose in its consumer credit segment. The percentage of the customer portfolio balance with 60-plus days delinquent was 8.8% at Jan. 31, a 30-basis-point increase from Oct. 31.

Over the three months to January, the company anticipates per-share earnings between 75 cents and 80 cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of 88 cents a share.

"This decline reflects the impact of increased provision for bad debt due to higher-than-expected accounts receivable charge-offs and delinquency rates in December and January, and portfolio growth," the company said in a statement.

For the next fiscal year ending January 2015, the Texas-based business downgraded previous EPS guidance to between $3.40 and $3.70 a share from $3.80 to $4 a share.

TheStreet Ratings team rates CONN'S INC as a Buy with a ratings score of B. The team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate CONN'S INC (CONN) a BUY. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow."